Macron proposes in Brazil to forge a new agreement between the European Union and Mercosur that contemplates the climate crisis

The political love affair between presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 78, and Emmanuel Macron, 46, is evident despite their ideological differences, their irreconcilable positions on the European Union-Mercosur trade agreement since, before jumping to the politics, the Frenchman worked as an investment banker and the Brazilian as a metal worker. Macron wanted to begin an official visit in the Amazon that will conclude in Brasilia. This Wednesday in São Paulo, the French president reiterated his firm opposition to the trade agreement negotiated for two decades, which Lula would like to sign now. “It is a bad agreement for you and for us,” Macron stated about a pact that he already considered dead in January, at the peak of the French farmers' protests. “We are going to forge a new agreement (…) responsible for development, climate and biodiversity,” he has proposed to them.

Lula and Macron talk regularly and on this trip they are the image of harmony, although the Brazilian has recently accused the Frenchman—and his protectionism—of being the main culprit for the EU-Mercosur agreement being in a deep coma and without signs of resurrection in the short term.

Macron took advantage of a business forum this Wednesday – his first event in Brazil Lula – to make his position clear on the text with which both blocs aspire to create the largest free trade area in the world. It is, with the permission of the war in Ukraine, the main discrepancy. In the Frenchman's opinion, the text that was negotiated for 20 years and has been stuck for another five is obsolete.

Macron's trip to Brazil, after stopping in French Guyana, reflects mutual interests that converge in both the environment and defense. The presidents began this Wednesday with the launching of a submarine built in Rio de Janeiro with French technology. And the day before they announced a plan to raise one billion euros of public and private investment to boost the sustainable economy in the Amazon and neighboring French Guyana.

Ignacio Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron.PRESIDENCE

The

Tonelero

, 71 meters long, launched at the Itaguaí naval complex, has been sponsored by Janja da Silva, Lula's wife. It is the third submarine built in Brazil since in 2008, also with Lula in the presidency, it sealed a strategic defense cooperation agreement with France. The fourth submersible will arrive in 2025 and both countries are collaborating on a fifth nuclear-powered one. With these monumental investments, Lula tries to reduce the misgivings of the military. The relationship between the leftist president and the Armed Forces is going through a delicate moment due to the coup attempt carried out by Bolsonaro and several generals, retired and active.

Foreign leaders on official visits to Brazil do not usually include the Amazon in their route, but Macron wanted to start there. He landed on Tuesday in Belém, in the heart of the largest rainforest on the planet and the headquarters of the COP30 climate summit in 2025. The president met there with Raoni Metuktire, the 92-year-old Kayapo indigenous leader whom he received at the Elysée and who has embodied the battle to protect the Amazon for decades in France. The president awarded him the Legion of Honor.

Raoni took the opportunity to demand that Lula fulfill his commitment to create more indigenous reserves. Lula, at the same time, passed the ball to his guest: “We want to convince those who have already deforested that they must contribute in an important way to ensure that the countries that still have forests keep them standing.” Macron posed for a

selfie

with his hosts and was able to see a giant ceiba tree up close on the island of Comú. Along the way, a banner in which Greenpeace demanded: “No to oil in the Amazon,” in reference to a controversial exploration project in the Amazon delta that Lula supports.

Brazil and France intend to join forces to achieve investments of one billion euros in four years to promote the bioeconomy in the Amazon. Lula and his government are especially interested in creating a carbon market that serves to economically compensate countries that invest in the protection of forests that capture carbon dioxide.

The relationship between Lula's Brazil and Macron's government is the opposite of that it had with his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Now harmony and smiles reign. Tuesday's photographs in the Amazon, in which Lula and Macron appear in an affectionate attitude, both wearing white shirts, have delighted Brazilian Internet users because they look like a typical photo session before a wedding.

Ignacio Lula da Silva, left, and Emmanuel Macron arrive at Combu Island, Brazil.PRESIDENCE

Stormy was the relationship between Macron and Bolsonaro. Shortly after coming to power in 2019, the far-right insulted Brigitte, Macron's wife, while the fires devoured the Amazon and the French president alerted the world of the impact of the fire in the largest rainforest in the world. Shortly after, the former soldier canceled a meeting in Brasilia with the French Foreign Minister at the last minute due to lack of time, went to get a haircut and tweeted the photo of the moment, a gesture widely interpreted as a provocation.

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